Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

News from The Michael King Writers' Centre

Newsletter May 2014

The Michael King Writers’ Studio Trust held its annual meeting last week. Chair Catriona Ferguson was re-elected unopposed, much to our delight.

Catriona is Chief Executive of the NZ Book Council. Her report on another busy and exciting year can be found on our web site.

The highlights of the year include:

Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker Prize for The Luminaries – she completed the final draft of her novel while she held a six-month residency at the centre in 2012, with the support of Creative NZ and The University of Auckland.

The centre currently hosts its 30th writer in residence, Kelly Ana Morey, and we hosted the first international residency last year when Huo Yan from Beijing held the inaugural Rewi Alley Fellowship.

Novelist Alison Wong has just been selected for the first writers’ exchange with Shanghai this year and a writer from Shanghai will be selected for a two-month residency at the centre in 2015.

More than 75 New Zealand writers applied for the 2014 residency programme, offered with the support of Creative New Zealand. Last year our resident writers were Don McGlashan, Deborah Shepard, Judith Bryers Holloway, and this year we have welcomed Alice Miller and Peter Wells. Kelly Ana Morey is currently in residence, with Anne Kennedy coming in July.

Eighteen visiting writers stayed at the centre in 2013 and so far this year we have had 10 writers, including authors from Finland and Sweden as well as people from all over New Zealand.

Our Young Writers Programme for Year 11 to 13 students, with top tutors and writers, is going from strength to strength and 120 top writing students from all over the Auckland region took part. The second issue of Signals was published last December.

Ten Poetry Project workshops for younger students were held in schools across the city last year, and 20 will be held this year, with funding from Auckland Council.

Our residential workshop on Writing the Arts: The Explanatory Word last October was a great success and this year’s workshop, with funding from the ASB Community Trust, will be on publishing. Publishing Now will feature speakers covering every aspect of the publishing industry.